Someone more experienced might confirm this but the closer you move to Tjmax the more accurate the readings are. .

No one is disagreeing with you halfwaythere. It is true that DTS become more accurate as you approach higher temps. However you have to consider the fact that the CPU does not instantly shut off after use, and that taking a range temperature from a predetermined time accounts in for the fluctuations in room temperature, as well as statistical errors.

Average temps give the users a much better idea of their processor state.

We listen to you guys and so AkG and myself have decided to test the Cooler Master 212 PLUS with the same Noctua fan as we used on the Megahalems and post the results right here. Even I am interested in the results so stay tuned.

It will be done today hopefully as running the tests correctly takes time so please bear with us.

Ok well that will be nice, take your time.. will wait for the results..

Burebista, hope we are cool, no hard feelings please and to anyone that might have found my comments bitter.

Rock on SKY and company/gang whichever you prefer :p..
To be honest, it might sound stupid.. but nowadays apart from searching on google for reviews, 99% of time I only read reviews at HWC, because I know any mistake noted usually gets corrected soon enough, and questions/queries I have gets answered..

OK about peak temperatures I'm waiting Kevin's response because all I have/see differences were almost none, but until my expert response I can say anything pro/against.
DTS sensors don't lie (at least not in full-load). Based on them thermal throttle/shutdown is initiated and if it's a spike which reach 2 distance to TJMax then thermal throttle is initiated.

OK about peak temperatures I'm waiting Kevin's response because all I have/see differences were almost none, but until my expert response I can say anything pro/against.
DTS sensors don't lie (at least not in full-load). Based on them thermal throttle/shutdown is initiated and if it's a spike which reach 2 distance to TJMax then thermal throttle is initiated.

I am sure that the sensors are accurate but those spikes would be considered "peak" in a chart and would thus impact the standing of coolers even though the spikes seem to have very little to do with the actual cooling potential of a heatsink.

You are right of course if you get one particularly high reading compared to the others. But as far as I know during an hour testing the spikes you are talking about are valid readings because they appear quite a few times. And during testing you are measuring the absolute cooling capacity note the average. You only need one degree above the limit to fry a cpu and an average value will never tell me how close or how far is really my cpu to that point.

Yes the spikes are frequent but they don't repeat themselves reading-wise very much. For example, if 20 spikes after 15 minutes of testing read 70°C it would be obvious that 70°C was the peak temperature. The reality is that it is much more random; for example 5 would be at 70, two would be at 74. three at 75C and ten at 68C. Would we randomly pick one of those higher numbers hoping that it was the actual peak and not an anomaly?

You should pick the highest one that appeared more than once. Chances are if you let the load go further you will see them again. I'm not sure you want to understand this but by picking an average value you're not doing a favor. When I'm testing a cooler my only interest is to see the maximum value and compare it to the other coolers. Going by your logic you should also eliminate the lowest values but in the end you are going to complicate things for no good reason.

Nope, can't do that since several values appear twice. IMO, your way is like playing Russian Roulette with a half loaded gun...sometimes you will luck out and other times you'll shoot yourself in the face.

In all of the testing I've done and in all of the screen shots I have seen I have never once seen a peak or maximum temperature reported by RealTemp that was an inaccurate spike. Not once.

I can't speak for Core Temp but I know the data coming from the Intel Core temperature sensors do not ever spike up unless the core temperature has spiked up.

Maybe he thinks that the rapid increase in core temperature when you go from idle to full load is some sort of mistake. It's not. The core temperature really does go up or down very rapidly when a big load like Prime95 or LinX is started or stopped. When you instantly flow a lot of amps through something the size of your finger nail, of course it is going to heat up very rapidly.

It's easy to say, "RealTemp and Core Temp are a dog's breakfast" but if that is true then ask him to show an example of this. We can't speak for Core Temp but you and I both have enough experience with RealTemp and reading core temperatures that we know his statement is not true. I don't know how to convince him how to do some proper testing of this.

So I'd say that it will be without doubts if you post a screenshot of RealTemp and CPU-Z in minute 14:5x from those 15 minutes of prime95. This is fair IMO, not only average readings. And I speak here not only for this review but for all your future heatsinks tests.

miggs78 no hard feelings man. The only reason that I'm so insistent is because I do care of HWC and I'm very confident in SKYMTL reviews. All I want are some clear and fair results.